Moderator's Report

Spa is a truly classic circuit and always brings some good close racing, none more close than Mike and Ronnie through Masta. How anybody can drive so closely with their eyes closed I'll never know.

The race wasn't without incident but was perhaps the cleanest of the season so far.

Martin Hunt continued his tradition of not completing a single lap on the circuit. Well done!

After the Christmas break we have 5 great tracks that will bring a thrilling close to the season.

Server replay time: 0h02m55s

MHunt and Norbert enter Stavelot side by side. Norbert can see MHunt on the inside but turns in too sharply.
The server shows no contact and the reaction of Norbert's Ferrari suggests Warp is involved but he clearly cut across MHunt who had his own spin following the incident.
MHunt is ahead at one point but having the inside line and the slower car, the cars are almost level at turn in.
Martin claimed responsibility for this incident but the moderators disagree. Norbert should have known Martin was there as he could clearly be seen and heard.

Unfortunately for Norbert, this is a lap 1 incident which adds an extra penalty place.
Norbert also took a SHIFTR with no SnG but seeing as it is almost Christmas I will waive the 30 second penalty as the 3 lost places is deemed sufficent.

Adam approaches La Source and brakes far too late.
As Fabio turns in to take the corner Adam hits him.
Adam has no overlap and simply out braked himself.
Adam was also having screen stutter problems in the race and retired following this incident.

So the trickiest incident of the moderation then, NHance is slow out of Malmedy and RogUK gains on him and attempts a pass on the left hand side while Norbert uses his superior power and exit speed to attempt a pass on the right hand side.
NHance had started to drift left but seeing RogUK he drifts right again where Norbert is squeezing past.
When Norbert starts his pass there is plenty of room and he is fully entitled to attempt a pass, though a more sensible approach would have been to do it on the run to Stavelot, but it is a valid overtake attempt and he does get alongside NHance.
Seeing NHance moving towards him he reacts by driving onto the grass and fights for control then moves back on to the tarmac where NHance now is beside him.
At this point I think Norbert is out of control but he is almost past NHance when the 2 collide and collect a helpless RogUK.

This was a tricky one because NHance moves across track a couple of times and Norbert loses control, so either could be penalised but because it is considered a valid overtake attempt I have classed it as a Contested Side by Side contact which penalises neither driver.
We do not want to discourage side by side racing or even in this case, 3 abreast racing and this was just an unfortunate incident.

Racing incident

Server replay time: 0h31m20s

Fabio passes Ronnie on the run down to Burnenville and they enter the left hander side by side but Ronnie takes too tight a line and suffers a warp contact from Fabio's Ferrari.
Fabio does drift out towards the centre line but Ronnie has already warped by that time.

Round 5 of the Novices Season 20 and we reach the halfway point where we take on the unique challenge of Spa. So over inflate your tyres, remove all ballast, crank up the gears and off we go.

Spa is one of the finest racing venues in the world and has been since its inception in 1920. Drivers should ensure that they take care when taking advantage of the slipstream following previous incidents on this circuit. Remember, there may be more cars following you than you think.

Car needs to be taken at Eau Rouge on Lap 1 as the field will bunch up. This is not the place for making Lap 1 Turn 1 do or die manouevres. You cannot win the race in turn 1 but you can certainly lose it, and more importantly you can lose the race for those around you, beside you and on occasion under you.

Reserve drivers should not join the server until there are only 30 minutes of qualifying left so as to give the FULL TIME drivers chance to join, and drivers are not to go out on track until there are 30 minutes of qualifying left as this helps all drivers join the server successfully.

Please restrict chat to pit messages if necessary, and this includes the end of the race, until all running drivers have completed the necessary laps.

The Novice races are run under Int Long rules and all incidents will be moderated.

Mike,Assuming no quick fix on IGOR & we will enter direct through the IP address - can you confirm the bandwidth settings on UKGPL5. I've found I have to set my core.ini exactly, otherwise I get a bandwidth mismatch.

Might be a bit late for some, but here's a Spa track guide along with an onboard lap, replay and setup:

Nice.

I noticed that you use the pit lane, and realised that I have been doing as well in practice. Presumably for tonight we'll need to avoid the pit lane in both qually and the race (in case someone takes a stop n go)?

Might be a bit late for some, but here's a Spa track guide along with an onboard lap, replay and setup:

Nice.

I noticed that you use the pit lane, and realised that I have been doing as well in practice. Presumably for tonight we'll need to avoid the pit lane in both qually and the race (in case someone takes a stop n go)?

There's still more than enough room on the right, even when you take that line. You'll see during Practice if there are cars exiting the pits while you pass through there.

Got problems at work, and still here. I very much doubt I'll be at the race. Hope for the best, but I can't see the problems being sorted out before 9. Shame cause I love Spa, and was looking forward to the race.

I connected OK, but got kicked off just as we were about to start. Guess it wasn't ment to be for me. I joined with about 15 minutes left, had PC problems which needed a reboot, and then getting booted out at the start of the race.

A bit gutted as I tried really hard to be here, but these things happen.

Really sorry to whoever I hit, I think I shouldn't have started the race as I had problems again with weird "stuttering". It wasn't too bad in qually but was in the race, and I probably should have retired before I hit someone. It came and went, but in the end it was bound to happen when I was close to someone, so it's my responsibility either way. I'll have to get it sorted before I race online again, I'm not sure what to do about it though.

Sorry again - it's the online equivalent of racing with bits falling of the car really.

Well, a race of two halves for me and a race that showed a lack of preparation.I have a distinct dislike for long circuits, lacking the patience to do the required number of laps to perfect my driving on them. And so i came to Spa having done enough laps to make a decent setup but not enough to really know where its limits were. The start was amazingly clean. No problems at Eau Rouge for anyone that i could see and we all settled down into a nice rhythm. I followed Miner Mike for a couple of laps watching where he was quicker and where he was slower than I and realised my strong point was the uphill run from Carriere to Blanchimont and so on lap 3 made a move there, using the superior power of my Ferrari to outdrag his cooper. Then i had to defend hard for several laps as Mike used my slipstream to keep the pressure on. Those laps were some of the best racing i have ever taken part in. Pity that i over did it on the entry to Les Combes on lap 6 and then again at Blanchimont on lap 8.. and La Source on lap 9! Still, 6th place was a better result than i had expected so i am a very happy racer